(02 Sep 2024, 7:07 pm)L469 YVK wrote What on Earth is happening at Riverside?

Too many vehicles and not enough engineering staff?

Washy seem to do a good job keeping their StreetDecks on the X1. Arriva Northumbria Blyth who effectively operate the predecessor to the StreetDeck (DB300) keep their 15 and 13 year old examples ticking by, arguably on tougher work.

StreetDecks should not be struggling on the likes of the 21, which is arguably no more difficult than Arriva's 308 between Durham and Newcastle.

Maybe Riverside need to drop some routes! 10A extended to Consett in place of the 47 with Consett picking up some boards (if they didn't have to interwork it with the short 10A or 10/10B)? Or.....X21 moved to Consett and crewed out of the Stanley bait room, doing remote reliefs at Chester Le Street? Washington could also be an alternative depending how much room & resource they have.

The real answer is opening a super depot in the Birtley area and shutting Washington in the process. The routes are just too far away from the depot so if something is slightly wrong with them they're too far from the depot to be sorted.

It's a mess, but it was always going to happen as you can't regulate it at all when they shut Chester Le Street without any real though. Just another cost cutting exercise.

Mind the DB300 and Streetdeck or SB200 and Streetlite aren't comparable, two completely different vehicles.